More than 22,000 soldiers gain status of ATO participants

The status of participant in the Anti-Terrorist Operation has been granted to 22,322 soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces, the representative of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Policy of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Serhiy Kucherenko said at a briefing on Tuesday. This is reported by Coruption.info.

"As of today, the Interdepartmental Commission of the State Service for veterans of the ATO has granted the status of participant of the ATO to 22,322 soldiers, including 11,753 military personnel and employees of the Ukrainian armed forces," he said.

According to Kucherenko, on February 4 the Cabinet of Ministers amended law No. 104 in order to simplify the mechanism for granting the status of participant of the ATO.

"According to the amendments, the Ministry of Defense and other law enforcement agencies now have the right to grant the status of participant of the ATO," he said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, as of March 11, the status of participant in the Anti-Terrorist Operation was granted to 9,261 soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Having the status of an ATO participant entitles the holders to a range of state subsidies and benefits.